Panniculitis in children

G Ital Dermatol Venereol. 2013 Aug;148(4):371-85.

Abstract

This paper will give a comprehensive view of the most frequent panniculitides seen in childhood, with emphasis on the types exclusively found in infancy, and for all other types of panniculitides also found in adults. Aim of this paper is also to analyze the clinical differences between panniculitis in childhood and in adulthood, and to give reliable histopathologic criteria for a specific diagnosis. A review of the literature is here integrated by authors' personal contribution. Panniculitides in children is a heterogeneous group of diseases, as well as in adult life, characterized by inflammation of the subcutaneous fat. Only very few types of panniculitis are exclusively found in childhood, such as Sclerema neonatorum and subcutaneous fat necrosis of the newborn, while the vast majority of the other types may be found both in paediatric age and in adults. Furthermore, this paper will consider in detail panniculitis according to their frequency, such as Erythema nodosum, Lupus panniculitis, Cold panniculitis, panniculitis in Behçet disease, and poststeroid panniculitis. It will also describe rare forms of panniculitis, such as Eosinophilic panniculitis (a pathological entity debated by many authors), Subcutaneous panniculitis T-cell lymphoma, and the different forms of the so call "Lipophagic panniculitis", encompassing respectively the febrile relapsing panniculitis of Weber-Christian disease and the non-relapsing form of Rothmann-Makai disease. For each type of panniculitis considered concise information will be given about epidemiology, etiology, clinical findings, laboratory data, prognosis and therapy, while histopathologic findings will be described in detail.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adrenal Cortex Hormones / adverse effects
  • Age of Onset
  • Behcet Syndrome / complications
  • Cellulitis / blood
  • Cellulitis / epidemiology
  • Cellulitis / pathology
  • Cellulitis / therapy
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cold Temperature / adverse effects
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Eosinophilia / blood
  • Eosinophilia / epidemiology
  • Eosinophilia / pathology
  • Eosinophilia / therapy
  • Erythema Nodosum / blood
  • Erythema Nodosum / diagnosis
  • Erythema Nodosum / epidemiology
  • Erythema Nodosum / pathology
  • Erythema Nodosum / therapy
  • Fat Necrosis / blood
  • Fat Necrosis / epidemiology
  • Fat Necrosis / pathology
  • Fat Necrosis / therapy
  • Granuloma Annulare / blood
  • Granuloma Annulare / epidemiology
  • Granuloma Annulare / pathology
  • Granuloma Annulare / therapy
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / blood
  • Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / epidemiology
  • Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / pathology
  • Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / therapy
  • Panniculitis / classification
  • Panniculitis / diagnosis
  • Panniculitis / epidemiology
  • Panniculitis / etiology
  • Panniculitis / pathology*
  • Panniculitis / therapy
  • Panniculitis, Nodular Nonsuppurative / blood
  • Panniculitis, Nodular Nonsuppurative / epidemiology
  • Panniculitis, Nodular Nonsuppurative / pathology
  • Panniculitis, Nodular Nonsuppurative / therapy
  • Sclerema Neonatorum / blood
  • Sclerema Neonatorum / epidemiology
  • Sclerema Neonatorum / pathology
  • Sclerema Neonatorum / therapy
  • Subcutaneous Fat / pathology
  • alpha 1-Antitrypsin Deficiency / complications

Substances

  • Adrenal Cortex Hormones

Supplementary concepts

  • Wells syndrome